Reflections
by slyfoxdemon
Summary: Consolidating some Superboy drabbles I  had that were interconnected so if you read Hope or Secrets this is where they went to. Taken some liberties with Superboy's personality. Current drabble Starstruck, Superboy is in the city of angels and isn't sober
1. Hope

Chapter teaser/preview/summary thing: Superboy feels frustrated and wants to get away from Mount Justice and reminders of Superman for awhile.

The mentors were visiting today. Most of them saw their younger partners every day, but today all of them were supposed to be coming to Mount Justice, to celebrate Young Justice's sixth month as a team. Seeing everyone interact with their mentors made Superboy want to break something, but the thought that Superman would actually be coming today made the doorknob he was holding burst in his hand.

He had to get out of here.

Megan was giving him a worried look, but he couldn't control his emotions enough to at least try to give her a reassuring look. Instead he holds up the cellphone they got him and gestures towards the door. Her face still looks worried but her eyes are tinged with understanding. She knows how he feels, and that he has to get out of here. He doesn't want to be here when Superman gets here, and Superboy knows if he gets out of here fast enough he can avoid the other man, and that Megan would make up a story, but that isn't that important because he wouldn't come after Superboy anyway.

With a nod he runs out the door, hearing Kaldur and Robin question his actions, and Megan reassuring them that he was just going out on a run and that he did it all the time. At least she wasn't lying. He had been doing plenty of running lately.

Running made it easier to forget that it hurt. It hurt to be alive. It hurt to not be anybody, and for the only thing he knew to snub him. But he was proud, and bitter, and he doesn't need Superman, and if Superman doesn't want him, then he doesn't want Superman either.

Right now the only thing Superboy wants is to run, run away from the things that were hurting him. So he ran. He ran as hard and as fast as he could, losing his mind to the adrenaline and the repetition of his legs striking the ground, coming up, then moving down again. For a while he is the run, and nothing matters, then he hits the other ocean. It's only been an hour or so, but he was using superpowers without knowing, and he ended up farther away than he meant to.

He doesn't know exactly where he is, or precisely how to get back to Mount Justice, but right now neither of those things matter to him. He sees a bench and sits down, and contemplates the waves and the sun that seems to be right above them. Day is transitioning to night and it is cooling off, but Superboy isn't cold and when he looks down at his shirt to contemplate this the giant S seems to be mocking him.

He rips his shirt off and throws it on the ground next to him, and buries his face in his hands. Running numbed him, but he still hurts. He feels alone, but he couldn't-wouldn't- go back, not yet, not while the Justice League members-especially Superman- are still with his team.

Superboy is in pain, and feels, sad. But he doesn't know how to make himself feel better. He isn't sure if he wanted to be left alone, or wanted someone to try to help him, so he just sat there.

People are walking by on the other side of the path, but they're smart enough to not approach him and give him a wide berth. Superboy isn't exactly stable right now.

He hears the rhythmic sounds of someone running, a quarter-mile down from where he was sitting. The thump , thump of their heart matching the pounding of their legs against the ground, and the short puffs of their lungs trying to keep pace with their run. They start running faster, they were getting closer to him, they were near him, and now they are stopping in front of him. Superboy is still deciding on whether he is going to glare at them for merely being near him, or if he is going to wait to see if they leave on their own first, then he will not have to deal with the intruder at all.

They tap his shoulder. He doesn't completely remove his face from his hands, but he does lift it a little, and opens his eyes to look up and see the person in front of him. It's a girl, and she is young. She couldn't be older than his physical age. She's looking at him with an expression he often saw on Megan's face-worried, nervous- but it's different.

He doesn't know this girl. She has blonde hair, and eyes that were blue like the ocean behind her, shifting from blue to green right in front of his eyes as her expression flits from worried to worried and nervous to worried and…determined?

Superboy's would-be irriation with her disappears in light of his confusion and, to his surprise, interest. She's looking at him in a way he hasn't seen before, in a way he doesn't fully understand, but wants to.

While he's studying her face her lips start moving. She's speaking to him "Do you need help?"

He's surprised at her question, and asks her, "Aren't people supposed to ask 'Are you okay?' in these types of situations?"

"I would have, but I know you're not just by looking at you. Do you want help?" She rephrases the question, but her reasoning makes sense even to his confused logic.

He stares at her, and while she appears to be unnerved by him, she still holds his gaze. He wants her help, the pain is coming back and he hurts too much to be surprised by this realization. So he just keeps looking into her blue-green eyes and says "Yes".

Everything behind her starts blurring, and Superboy realizes that his eyes are filled with water. He wants to drop his face into his hands again, he's crying, but he wants this girl more. Somehow she's helping. She steps closer, and puts her hand under his chin for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck.

Something inside Superboy snaps and he pulls the girl close to him, dragging her into his lap and holding onto her, then burying his face in his neck and just crying. Her fingers are stroking his hair, soothing him as he cries. He still hurts, but he's starting to feel better, and as he bends his head back to look her in the eyes again he sees that her eyes are wet too. She's crying too.

"Why are you crying?" he asks her.

She gives him a watery smile and says "Because you're crying", and with that he pulls her even closer to him and buries his face in her hair, and cries until he had no tears left. When he surfaces again, the sun is halfway below the sea, and for some reason he wants this girl to watch the sunset with him.

He looks her in the eyes again and asks her "Will you watch the sunset with me?" She smiles another wet smile, but this one is happier, and makes him feel happier.

"Of course", he knew her answer before she even says it, the smile was a giveaway, but it still felt good when she said it.

She starts to move off of him, his arms had loosened a bit when he looked down to question her, and he tightens his grip again. She looks up at him and raises her eyebrow and he feels a little embarrassed-he thinks its embarrassment at least-but only a little, he doesn't want to let her go, and he doesn't want her to let go.

So he tells her "Holding you makes me feel better".

She looks a little embarrassed by what he just said, a blush spreads across her nose and cheeks, and then she just smiles again. "You can still hold me, but I'll have to turn around to see the sunset" she tells him.

Superboy feels his face flush, he knew that. He lets her pull away briefly but his eyes follow her. Right now he needs her, and if she runs, he will chase her, but she comes back to him and his arms. He can't help but to feel relieved that she comes back.

His hands are resting on her stomach now instead of her back, and her hands are on his, and they feel warmer. She watches the sunset with him, sitting in his lap. It's not his first sunset-nor is it hers he suspects- but no other sunset has looked like this to him.

Eventually the sun is gone, but light is still in the sky lingering behind and Superboy wants to linger too.

He can feel her looking up at him, and he looks down to meet her eyes. "Do you have anywhere to go tonight?" She asks him.

"Yes", he answers the question, but she's still looking at him, he hasn't answered the implied question, "but I don't want to be there".

She turns in his arms "Do you want to come with me?", she didn't even have to ask, he would have followed her anyway.

"Yes", he tells her aloud even though the answer is implied.

He loosens his grip and lets her get up, then gets off the bench he had been sitting on for hours. He isn't sure if he can hold her while they walk, or how that would work. She grabs his hand and it's so much smaller than his. He wraps his fingers around hers and she gently squeezes his hand and smiles up at him, and the warm feeling she gives him grows.

She lets him set the pace even though she's the one leading. He wants to walk slow and enjoy the warm night with this girl he just met, but makes him feel so good.

The walk isn't quiet, the small city they are in projects noises at them from every direction, and she talks to him too. She isn't talking about herself, or him, but rather random facts about her city, but he hangs on her every word.

They stop in front of a yellow house, it's bright, and Superboy thinks it suits her. It's a good sized two story house, Superboy might have even considered it big had he not been created in CADMUS and been living in Mount Justice for the past six months.

She unlocks the door and lets him in with a smile, and a yellow dog zooms up to him, and gets on its hind legs, in its attempt to lick his face. He gives the girl a questioning look, and she smiles at him, and he pats the dog on the head, before the two of them continue on into the house. She guides him up the stairs and they walk into a room with sky blue walls, and she slips her hand out of his, and he misses it immediately.

"I am going to go take a shower" she tells him, and walks through another door. Superboy can hear the water running next door, and he sits down against the wall next to the bathroom door. He dozes against the wall until he hears the water stop. She comes out of the bathroom and she's wearing a towel, and when she sees him leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door she just smiles.

He wishes she would put on his shirt but he left it at the beach, or did he? He sees black fabric on top of the dresser she's walking towards, and follows her to the dresser. He picks up the shirt, and it's his. He gives her a questioning look.

"I saw it on the ground next to you so I assumed it was yours and picked it up as we were leaving, is it not your shirt?" she asks him, and the answer is yes, but he doesn't speak, he flushes a little instead, and holds out the shirt to her.

She raises her eyebrows at him. "It is my shirt and I want you to wear it" he tells her.

She grabs the shirt from him, and goes back into the bathroom. When she comes out she's wearing his shirt, and it feels intimate to him for some reason. She walks to her bed and lies down, and gestures for him to lie down next to her, so he does.

They're lying on her bed and it's relaxing, and he's looking into her eyes, and for some reason he wants to tell her everything.

He wants her in his arms again, so he pulls her close and starts telling her his story.

"I'm Superman's clone…" and as he tells her his life story, he feels like a weight is being lifted off of him. He tells her about his frustration, how bitter he feels, about Superman's distance, and about how he even feels a little isolated in his team.

She listens to him, and her hands are in his hair and stroking as he talks and its calming and feels good and he almost wants to stop talking and just lean into her hair, but he keeps talking until he's told her everything. When he stops he just looks into her eyes, he isn't sure if he wants her to say anything, or just smile and hold him.

She asks him a question instead, "So you don't have a name?"

"No", his answer makes him feel embarrassed, he doesn't feel like a real person because he doesn't have a name.

"Do you mind if I give you one?" she asks him shyly, and he feels equally shy, because he would like it a lot.

Superboy shakes his head.

She smiles up at him brightly, and his face feels hot. She contemplates him for a couple minutes, and then her face lights up. "How about Conner? Con for short?" she suggests.

It fits like a glove, and he has no words to express how he feels to her. So he just says "Thank you".

She's looking at him, and she looks amazed at his face, Conner wonders what the expression on his face is, it must be happy.

"You're beautiful", she tells him, and Conner realizes he doesn't know her name.

"What's your name?" he asks because he needs to know.

"My name is Claire Dalton. What's yours?" she asks him with a smile on her face, she knows that he wants to use his new name.

"Conner Dalton" he uses her last name in an effort to be connected to her, and Conner thinks it's okay because her smile gets wider when she uses it, which is good because now it's his last name too.

Claire's smile stays on her face even as she falls asleep, and Conner drifts off to the rhythm of her breath and heartbeat.

Next thing he knows, she's shaking him awake. "Conner you're phone's vibrating" it's funny that she's telling him this because usually his phone wakes him up even though he always leaves it on vibrate. Conner's still holding her when he gets his phone out of his pants even though she'll be able to hear the entire conversation. It doesn't matter if she knows to him, and if anyone has a problem with it Conner will fight them before he lets anyone get to Claire.

"Hello?" he answers the phone.

"Superboy where are you?" the answer is stern and tinged with a slight edge of worry. It's Kaldur.

"I'm on the west coast" Conner didn't want to tell them the name of Claire's town, he wanted to keep her and everything connected to her as his own special secret.

"Are you alright?" Kaldur's voice was calmer but still stern.

"I am fine, I will be back to Mount Justice soon enough" Conner didn't want to leave but he knows he has to go back. He wants to fight villans and make the world better.

Kaldur starts to protest, but Conner hangs up on him and the conversation is over.

Conner looks at Claire, he doesn't want to leave so soon, he just met her, and he wants to enjoy her a little longer.

She starts to sit up so he does too. She gives him a tight hug and Conner reciprocates, then she kisses him on the forehead and tells him "You have to go back to Mount Justice".

"I know" Connor grumbles.

The Daltons head for the front door, and when they get there Claire realizes that she's still wearing Conner's shirt.

"Wait here so I can give your shirt back to you" she says, but Connor grabs Claire's wrist before she goes.

"I want you to keep it" Connor tells her and Claire smiles and nods in response.

"I'll see you again soon" he says to her with a hug.

When Conner gets back to Mount Justice the whole team is gave him funny looks.

"Superboy where's your shirt?" Megan asks him, but Conner just smiles a little and says nothing. But it's a different smile, one that Megan hasn't seen yet, one that Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin haven't seen since that night where Conner left his tube for the first time, since before Conner saw the look on Superman's face when he realized he had a clone. It's a smile full of hope.


	2. Secrets

Chapter preview/teaser/summary thingy: Superboy is keeping something from the team, Robin is just sure of it. Follow-up to Hope.

For the past couple weeks every few days like clockwork Superboy has left the base, sometimes for hours, sometimes all day, and sometimes he wouldn't come back until the next day, and the super powered teen never says anything about where he was going or why.

Robin, Kaldur, and Kid Flash were going crazy with curiosity. They weren't worried, there hadn't been any headlines about a teenager destroying cities, so they were sure that he wasn't compromising his secret identity, but what where was Superboy going? And more importantly, why was he going there?

Megan didn't seem to know any more than the rest of the team did, but she lacked their curiosity, she just smiled and said "I have ideas, but I think I should keep them to myself for Superboy's sake".

One night the team is hanging out in Mount Justice; Robin is updating the security server, Kaldur is reading a book, Kid Flash is teaching Megan how to play a video game, and Superboy is walking out the backdoor.

They wait five minutes before piling into Megan's bio-ship to follow Superboy.

Invisible and silent they follow him into the forest, he stops, pulls out his phone and starts texting? Since when did Superboy even know how to text? He puts his phone back in his pocket and heads off towards civilization running at super speed.

A couple minutes later and they're in New York City, the team exchanges glances, Superboy in the big apple? Megan parks her ship on a random roof and they pick the chase up on foot, and Superboy has slowed down to a walk making it easier for them to follow him.

They follow his head through a crowd, and see it go into club, and even more confused, they follow him into the music.

The room is hot and packed, the walls are pulsing from the loud beat, bodies are writhing on each other in response to the sound, and the smell of alcohol and sweet and pungent in the air. "How did he get in here? Does he even have ID?" Kid Flash asks Robin, because although Superboy is strong and big, he doesn't look older than 16, and he didn't have fake IDs like the rest of his team, much less a real one, so Robin just shrugs, and they push through the crowd.

Megan and Kaldur are looking around the room, and decide they aren't that curious and wave at the younger boys as they go back outside to the cool, quiet night. Kid Flash and Robin press on, deeper into the club and they find Superboy again. His arms are crossed against his chest, but he looks more bored than irritated or angry. Girls are surrounding the tall brunette, hearts are in their eyes and they keep asking him if he wants to dance, wants a drink, wants to get out of here, but Superboy just stands there impassively and shakes his head.

Suddenly his eyes dart to the side, and he uncrosses his arms and brings them down to his sides. It's a girl, and that's even more unusual to Kid Flash and Robin. She's not too terribly tall, and dressed the same as all the other girls in the club, red high heels, short shorts, and a white oversized shirt her shoulder and collarbone peeking through. She looks pretty to Robin and Kid Flash, but she's too far away for them to make out any of her features besides her hair color, dark brown locks in a bob swaying as she walked.

She gets to Superboy and neither of the brunettes says anything. The girl holds out her hand to Superboy and he smiles at her, and takes her hand. She lifts their entwined hands and leads him into the mass on the dance floor, and the other super heroes lose sight of couple.

Kid Flash and Robin look around for Superboy, but decide to give up after 10 minutes of no sighting. The two step out of the club's side door into the alley and see a couple outside to their embarrassment.

The girl has long wavy blond hair and clad only in a tank top and some tiny shorts. She being pressed into a wall by a guy wearing a tight white shirt that's bunched up around mid-chest, and her hands are on his back, inside his shirt and yanking it up higher.

Kid Flash and Robin hear the guy growl (growl!) and he grabs the girls thigh and tugs it up, silently tell her to curl it around his waist, and her red heel is tight against the small of his back. He buries his face is in the girl's neck and they can see her face. She's pretty with smoky eyeliner and blue eyes, and they know she can see them.

Her hands start to move right before their eyes. One hand going up to his hair to twist in the straight brunette locks that fell to the middle of the broad guy's neck. The other hand drifts down to his jeans, and the blond girl winks at Kid Flash and Robin, while squeezing her guy's butt in front of them and shamelessly moaning while he groans.

Robin and Kid Flash can only blush and run around the corner of the alley to get away from the couple and their private moments. When the super hero see their crime fighting partners a couple minutes later, they have no words to describe their embarrassment so they just blush more and avert their eyes when Megan asks them "What's wrong? What did you see?"

Back around the corner the young couple separates, and the blond girl is laughing at the top of her lungs and the boy is wearing a smug smirk.

"Here lets take that off" she tells him with a smile, pulling a wig off his head.

"Do you want your shirt back?" she continues digging a black shirt out of her purse and offering it to the super powered teenager. He shakes his head.

"Come on Conner you need to stop leaving your shirts with me, you'll run out soon" she says to him with a wink and a smile.

Conner just smiles back and gives her a hug, and waves as he walks off, he'll see her again soon enough.

When Conner gets back to Mount Justice the rest of the team has been back for awhile, and Kaldur and Megan are still trying to get answers out of Kid Flash and Robin.

"Come on tell us! What did you guys see to make you blush like that?" Megan exclaims in curiosity.

But the boys just blush, and when the team sees Conner walk into the secret base the two boys blush harder. He's wearing a tight white shirt with Claire written across it diagonally in curly black letters.

"Superboy what happened to your shirt?" Megan asks him.

He smiles a new smile, one different from the ones his team has seen before. It's a smile with a secret. "Some girl took my shirt and made me switch with her" his words don't make anything clearer to Megan, but Robin and Kid Flash's faces become even redder.


	3. Starstruck

So this is still in the same universe as Hope and Secrets, enjoy.

* * *

Conner is in the city of angels and a little drunk, or a lot drunk. He's got a beer in his hands and he's sitting on a coach with his legs spread wide and starring at his Claire. She's down a level on the dance floor, a shot in hand and her hair flying around her as she grinds on some guy. Conner is vaguely aware that the fact that some guy is all over her makes him angry, but she's staring at Conner, and when she downs that shot and steals someone else's she's still looking at him.

She breaks away from the crowd of guys around her and makes her way to the crowded burlesque pole, and shoves a girl off of it and starts to dance. She's not doing any crazy tricks, but she's beautiful, shameless, drinking, and still looking at Conner. She gets off the pole, and pushes a guy away and is walking towards Conner. She's sit on his lap and her lips are on his, and he's drunk and barely knows what to do when sober, so he nothing except blush when she pulls back and laughs.

Conner gets an idea of what to do, and pulls her face down to his and kisses her. His tongue touches her lips before her mouth. Her tongue tastes like fire and cupcakes, and her hands are moving from massaging his head to his chest then under his shirt and Conner gasps and can't do anything anymore. She's kissing his neck, and he buries his nose in her hair and gently squeezes her hips, and she's too much too much, and not enough, Conner needs more of her.

She moves her head back to look at him and her eyes are dark and it makes Conner moan. He wants her. He's always wanted her so long as he's been alive, he just didn't know who she was yet. She grinding down on him and Conner is moaning and can't stop, and everyone can probably hear him and he doesn't care. She stops, looks down at what she's done, and then gives him a crooked smile. "Let's go take care of that" she leans down and whispers into his ear before nipping at it, and she better stop or else he won't be able to stop soon.

She gets off of him, and he pulls her back down grinding up against her, and she shudders a little and looks up at him through half lidded eyes. Conner can't stop, he bends down to kiss her and "Oh god" he's a little too loud and they're still in public but he can't stop, not when she's writhing like that against him. His head is thrown back and he feels like he's on fire, she's all over him, lips on his neck, hands under his shirt and then ripping his shirt off and he can't bring himself to care that they are making a scene because it feels better than anything he has ever experienced. His hands are all over her thighs, her butt and she's moaning for him and he wants to touch more, wants to hear her _scream _for him.

One of his hands moves up towards her chest, and she's licking his chest, licking and biting and her mouth is scorching against his skin. He kissing her throat, wet and messy and nips at it gently, and its turning red and he's touching her breast and the room is getting hotter and hotter, and her mouth is on his nipple and she's shuddering against him, and he's coming, thrusting up against her, shuddering and moaning and looking down in her eyes. And when he's done he whites out for a second, and Claire is asking him if he's alright, and he looks down at her a little embarrassed. He just came in his pants, but she just smiles up at him. Then looks down at his pants "It's a good thing you're wearing black pants right now" she says then she laughs loudly.

Conner looks around, people are staring at them with blushes on their faces, and they quickly look away when he glares at them. "Well I think we have given them enough of a show for tonight" Claire tells him, and she gets up off him, and offers her hand to him. Conner tugs her down by accident, and she laughs as she tumbles down into his arms, and kisses him gently on the mouth before they both get up.

She wraps her arm around his waist, and he pulls his around her shoulders and glares darkly at any guys that look at her. When they finally get out of the club, the night air is cool and Conner realizes he isn't wearing a shirt, and Claire laughs again. There are flashes all around the pair, and Claire gets on her tip-toes and kisses him, "How's that for a show" she whispers when she pulls back, and she winks at the paparazzi, and drags Conner down the street into a taxi, and they're driving off into the night.

"Watch out for the headlines tomorrow!" Claire tells him as she laughs. Then she talks to the cabbie "Take us to…" she starts spouting off an address to the driver and Conner spaces out, he's sobered up a lot since making a scene in the club but he's still a little tispy and when he comes to, he's in an apartment and Claire is taking off his pants. He raises his eyebrow down at her, and she laughs. "You need to take a shower" she tells him "and I'm not letting you completely ruin these new pants, I like how they look on you" she wiggles her eyebrows up at him, and his pants are at his ankles "I think you can handle things from here, and she walks off presumably to take a shower of her own.

Once he's clean he listens for the sound of her breathing and follows her to a bedroom, and she's asleep and he crawls in with her.

"Conner, Conner" Claire's shaking him, trying to wake him, and when Conner opens his eyes Claire is blushing. "Conner your naked" she tells him and Conner's head hurts so he just shrugs and snuggles back into Claire. She just sighs and lets him go back to sleep.

When Conner wakes again, she smiles down at him, and he lets her go, and she throws some underwear at his head.

"We have to get back to San Diego" she tells him, and while they're driving back Conner turns on his cell phone and it starts ringing, and when he answers it Robin yells at him "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" and Conner's head still hurts so he just mumbles something about clues for their mission and hangs up. Two hours later they're back in San Diego, and Claire drops him off at the house his team in staying in, and when he walks in Robin has calmed down, Kaldur and the boy wonder are playing video games, Wally is trying to talk to Megan and Megan is reading some magazine. A magazine with a picture of Claire and him on the cover?

He walks over to Megan and asks for the magazine and she blushes and hands it to him. Daughter of the named Dalton doctors partying with a mystery guy? What? There's pictures of them from in front of the club, and the super boy isn't sure if he should be worried that Superman will see it, then he shrugs, maybe the man will see it and feel he has to guide Conner into being a good person.

Conner smirks at the thought and hands the magazine back to Megan and sits on the couch next to her on the side that Wally isn't occupying and she rambles to him and celebrities "They are people famous for going off drinking and dancing, or appearing in movies I think. This girl is supposedly having a love affair with a secret new guy".

"That's me" Conner says blandly to Megan, who continues talking for a minute then stops when she realizes what he said.

"…what?" Megan can't seem to comprehend what he just said.

Conner just shrugs and walks off to his room.

"Conner is having an affair with a celebrity?" Wally is the only one coherent enough to say anything "are we in an alternate dimension?"

Kaldur just turns back to the video game it isn't any of his business that Superboy is in a relationship, Robin starts laughing, and Megan blushes, a little put out about Conner's relationship, but at least now she knows that he isn't gay.

And Conner is back in his room sleeping, unaware that his team is talking about him, and even less aware that across the country in Metropolis a hero is reading about him.

Batman looks down at the magazine and knows that its Superman's clone, and he just shakes his head a little and smiles, at least the kid is having fun.


End file.
